


Agents of GROWL

by Illuminated_Spectrum



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Agents, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Espionage, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Guns, MAMAverse, Mutants, Mystery main Exo character, OT12 (EXO), OT9 (EXO), Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Slow Burn, Spies, Spies & Secret Agents, Superpowers, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illuminated_Spectrum/pseuds/Illuminated_Spectrum
Summary: K-pop idols we know and love are just clones. The K-pop industry is a lie. It exists as a facade, funding and disguising covert government activity.Are you ready for the truth?TherealExo Unit is a 12-man special forces team with actual superpowers who protect planet Earth on the daily from threats like advanced terrorist organisations, rogue mutants and alien invasions.Welcome, Agent, to G.R.O-W.L.
Relationships: (main Exo character slowly revealed with story), (not a reverse harem), EXO/OC
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	1. Foreword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Excuse the outdated photos xD Promise I'll try and find a time to make new ones!
> 
> \- main Exo character develops along with story, there are no 'less important' members -

**AGENTS OF G.R.O–W.L.  
**Action | Romance | Sci-fi | Adventure

* * *

**STORY SETTING**

The K-pop industry as we know it? A complete lie, a facade used to both hide and financially support covert government activity. K-pop idols are actually clones of real secret organisation operatives. Superpowers and special abilities aren't things of fiction after all. Technology has already advanced beyond belief and threats to mankind roam the streets. Defending society against alien races, mutant beings, failed science experiments and advanced terrorist organisations, governments strive day by day to uphold a 'nothing enters, nothing leaves' policy. These are the hard truths an unsuspecting K-pop fan discovers when she just happens to stumble into the middle of things.

**Facial Recognition Scan. Complete.  
** **Hello Agent, welcome to G.R.O-W.L.**

_Welcome, to reality._

* * *

**G.R.O-W.L  
** **(Global Response Operations – Warfare and Logistics)**

Focusing on protecting human life as its primary purpose, G.R.O-W.L. was formed through a union of countries with disregard to all racial prejudices and political leverage. G.R.O-W.L. operates as a top-secret intelligence agency utilising the most advanced weaponry and extraordinary agents, covering the areas of global security, espionage, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism and alien contact.

* * *

**Experiment EXO**

**-  
** _.[ data_incomplete ]  
__.[ Exo_planet_source_extraction ]  
__.[ Power_infusion_in_process ]  
__.[ Transmit ]  
__.[ Total_12_Success ]_  
_-_

**The EXO Unit  
**(based on rank)

**Agent Wu Yifan  
**Ability: Flight  
Exo Unit Leader

**Agent Kim Junmyeon  
**Ability: Hydrokinesis  
Captain

****

**Agent Luhan  
**Ability: Telekinesis  
Second in Command

**Agent Huang Zitao  
**Ability: Chronokinesis  
Co-Pilot, Combat Specialist

**Agent Do Kyungsoo  
**Ability: Geokinesis  
Sub-Unit Leader, Biochemist

**Agent Zhang Yixing  
**Ability: Biokinesis  
Medic

**Agent Kim Jongdae  
**Ability: Electrokinesis  
Computer Specialist

**Agent Park Chanyeol  
**Ability: Pyrokinesis  
Technician

**Agent Byun Baekhyun  
**Ability: Photokinesis  
Engineer

**Agent Kim Jongin  
**Ability: Teleportation  
Field Agent, Scout

**Agent Kim Minseok  
**Ability: Cryokinesis  
Field Agent, Espionage Specialist

**Agent Oh Sehun  
**Ability: Aerokinesis  
Field Agent, Sniper

* * *

**Experiment GE(O)  
**

**-  
** _.[ Unrecognised_transmission ]  
__.[ // ]  
__.[ error ]  
_-

**Subject 072  
**Ability: Unknown

* * *

_How far can you run my dear, and how deep can you hide?  
This reaching web of lies threads itself in every step and breath,  
The eternality you seek slips through your fingertips,  
Hope is self-delusion by the weak of mind.  
\- Anonymous_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this is a fic that I fully planned out back in the good ol' Exo Showtime days, 2013-2014 I think? Found it while cleaning out my drive and was suddenly inspired by the recent revelation of Obsession and X-Exo to continue it.
> 
> For anyone who misses OT12, wants a nice nostalgia hit or is up for some superpowered secret agent fun!
> 
> (And dw, we'll get to see all of Exo out on the field/in action at some point ;D)


	2. Prologue

The first thing her mind registered was noise. 

Impeccably consistent beeping; loud and irritating. The artificial hum of whirring machinery. An irregular drip of a tap in the background. The distant, low murmur of voices. 

The second thing her mind registered was the fact that she couldn’t pinpoint the origin of said noises. Everything was pitch black. No… that wasn't exactly accurate. Patterns slowly morphed in the darkness – patches and swirls of lighter colour as though it were... 

As though it were the back of her eyelids. Right, her very own eyelids which she should be able to open... 

Excruciatingly slowly, they blinked open, like her brain had forgotten how to perform the most basic of human functions. 

Light flooded her blurry vision and the shapes around the room focused and unfocused for a long time before she could finally start to identify objects. Everything seemed familiar yet foreign at the same time, in a way that was disconcerting to say the least. Words floated into her head of their own accord. 

_Walls…_

_Tubes..._

_Screen..._

_Machine..._

She was in what appeared to be a hospital room, yet everything around was so alien-looking she couldn't be certain. The blindingly white walls were painful to look at, to which she then realised she was seeing everything with shocking clarity. Like some ultra-HD switch had been turned on in her pupils. Had edges always looked this sharp, had curves always looked this smooth? 

Gradually, more slivers of recognition clicked in her brain, as though it was still in the process of re-calibrating, and she gained the consciousness to question: _Where am I...and why...?_

There was no time to ponder the answer however, because the strange, spherical, robot-like object that had been slowly circling above her head until now, released an awful screeching in a hollow, metallic voice. 

“ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! SUBJECT P-072 HAS AWOKEN!” 

Instinctively, her hands rose up to cover her ears from the assaulting noise, but froze halfway when her abnormally precise peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of wisps of black smoke materialising in the corner of the room. A second later, a man appeared with a soft puff. 

Her brain was now conscious enough to decide that yep, she definitely hadn’t actually ‘woken up’ at all. This _had_ to be a strange and disorientating dream. 

Then, amidst the blasting siren and the increasingly louder pounding of footsteps, she heard an exasperated sigh followed by an almost familiar, playful voice, "Goddammit Baekhyun, thought you’d recalibrated this stupid thing." 


	3. Zero_One

**[Time: 0:00am]  
[Location: Kazakhstan desert]**

“Ranger in position, over.” The static-filled transmission sounded across their earpieces. 

Luhan’s eyes didn’t stray from the targets, but he mentally noted Sehun’s efficiency with satisfaction. Through binoculars, he watched as a small group of shadowy figures skittered across the barren terrain. 

“More Desert Howlers,” came Minseok’s voice over the intercom, with poorly veiled boredom. “We should’ve guessed as much.” 

“These guys are dumb A F.” Jongin’s smirk could be clearly heard in his hushed tones. “I’m close enough to take them out and they haven’t noticed a thing. Permission to engage?” 

“ _You’re_ dumb as fuck for saying out the acronym.” 

“Oi respect your elders.” 

"You're literally less than three months older-"

Tuning out his two youngest team members, Luhan glanced skyward and assessed the weather conditions, noting the heavy clouds that were blocking the moon from view. He was about to speak when another chirpy voice cut in, “You know, with the frequency these things show up, you’d think someone was breeding them. Nightcrawler, can you try to get a little closer? I want to check out their snout muzzles.” 

“Breeding them for what?” A different, deeper voice grumbled. “They’re consistently useless every time we’ve run into them – aye Nightcrawl, you got sand on the camera lenses!” 

Before the engineer and the technician could speak again, Luhan quickly interjected in a low voice, “Nightcrawler, permission denied. Let Headlamp and Blowtorch finish their examinations first." 

“From my initial observation of the screenshots, it looks like the weight they’re putting on their hind legs may have altered slightly. Spine elongation is a possibility.” A third voice belonging back on station joined in. 

“Whatever Groot, they’re still Desert Howlers. And…it looks like they still have the same blinking green light on the muzzle lock too, which means we can’t remove it.” Baekhyun clucked in annoyance. “Ops Team, feel free to continue elimination, we’ll keep the analysis going back here. Targets are unarmed anyhow.” 

Mentally confirming for the last time that he counted six Desert Howlers in total, Luhan spoke into his transmitter, “Jack Frost, Nightcrawler, engage targets. Is backup required?” 

Jongin huffed dramatically, “Nine Tails, your doubt in our abilities pains me.” 

Their Second in Command stayed silent, watching tersely as a blur of black suddenly appeared amidst the Howlers, startling the creatures to a halt. The blur seemingly engulfed the front two and with two flashes of silver, they were down. This broke the rest of the Howlers into a frenzy, squealing in terror as they fought their way to escape in different directions. The black mist then dissipated just in time to make way for four blades of ice that sliced through the air and swept through the running targets, replacing animalistic yelps with silence and bringing an unprecedented chill to the desert night air. 

Luhan finally set down his binoculars. “Elimination complete. Everyone, back to base.” 

* * *

**[Time: The same crazy Saturday night]**   
**[Location: Sydney, Australia]**

_\-----  
_ _To: 2013australia @ smtown.com_   
_From_ _: natashanararyu1128 @ gmail.com_

_Hiya SM TOWN!_

_This is my application to your auditions this_ _year,_ _hope I’m doing it right. I absolutely love your stuff and it’d be a dream come true to join your team :)_

_Below are my_ _deets_ _:_

**_Name:_** _Nara Ryu_   
**_D.O.B_** _: 28 November 1995_   
**_Age_** _: 18_   
**_Nationality_** _: Australian_   
**_Ethnicity_** _: Korean-Chinese, or is it Chinese-Korean?_   
**_Height_** _: 169cm_   
**_Talents_** _: K-pop dancing, singing, mimicking Pikachu_   
**_Hobbies_** _: translating Asian dramas on Viki.com, wasting life away on FB, impatiently waiting for the Avengers 2, cutting onions, confidently belting the_ _English_ _lyrics in K_ _pop_ _songs_   
**_Additional comments_** _: I’m a Korean-Chinese born and raised in Australia (_ _a_ _ABCK you might say) with traditional family values – typical super strict parents_ _yo_ _. I’m fluent in English, Korean and Mandarin. I’m currently a_ _uni_ _student living out on my own…wait is that relevant? Most importantly, I love_ _love_ _love_ _K-pop, I’ve even learnt dancing from_ _Youtube_ _tutorials because of my love of K-pop, like do you get me? I guess you could say I’m in touch with both Asian and Western culture so that should also be a plus in that I can do promotions for your company and whatever girl group you put me in_ _ahahaa_ _…_ _ahaha_ _…_ _< 3 _

_Oh, I’ve also travelled to Korea a few times but never got to see Exo (the bane of my existence) in person which is something I’m totally devastated about so hopefully that can be changed in the near future ;D_

_Thanks~~_

_Warmest_ _Regardssss_

_Nara R._

_Ps: It sucks_ _ballz_ _that you barely ever come to Australia for your Global Auditions._   
\-----

“There! I clicked sent! I’ve done it! Are you proud?” Nara drawled as she slid sideways off the chair, face flushed and eyes half-lidded. Dani, her roommate-slash-best friend, rushed to catch her before she landed head first on the floor. 

“Oh my God, Nara!” She scolded, trying to upright the flailing girl. “Sent what? What did you manage in the ten minutes I was away, protecting my Triple Choc cookie dough from Aaron’s puke? I friggin hate being the responsible, sober friend.” 

“I’ve never felt so _happy,_ this is great!” Nara giggled, making fluttering motions with her hands, completely ignoring Dani’s distress. 

“That’s because you’re totally shitfaced you idiot. I should’ve known those last two bottles of soju were a bad idea…” Dani’s eyebrows furrowed as she trailed off mumbling. Checking the screen she noticed a new addition in the ‘Sent’ folder of Nara’s email account. Her eyes widened comically. 

“Oh shit, Nara Ryu! The _one night_ you get wasted, you send the world’s most embarrassing K-pop application straight to SM Global?!” 

* * *

If Nara Ryu was allowed one phrase to describe herself, that phrase would most likely be something along the lines of ‘laziest-ass slacker on planet Earth’. It was practically indisputable. But in her defense, what second semester university student _wasn’t_? 

Sadly though, this description applied not only to the education side of things she’d let slip up, but also her (now partially non-existent) social life. The initial craze of all things PARTAAAY had tided over after the first semester and now she was just content to sit at home and potato her way through life. Gudetama pajamas, boba ice cream and newly updated Kdrama episodes? Comfort for the soul. 

So it was completely unsurprising when Dani ~~demanded~~ invited her to a night out, Nara’s initial response had been "Ughhh…but that means getting up from my couch?" (Actually her _very_ first thought had been ‘ _Gurl_ _, pls. You really_ _gonna_ _interrupt me during my 5_ _th_ _Exo Showtime re-run?’,_ ahem).

But then her guilt-tripping side had come up and reminded her of how she’d been pretty much been neglecting her friends for the good part of six weeks. From there, her spontaneous side took over and thought ' _C’mon, this’ll be a good chance to let loose a little. You deserve it after that whopping 9000 word essay you just handed in.'_

So in the end she agreed to go. And a crazy night out, followed by plenty of soju shots once home, led to… 

“What is it that you love so much about a bunch of dudes wearing five layers of foundation, lip-synching in a box?” Aaron slurred. The Thai-Canadian boy, another one of Nara’s best friends from uni, was directing the question at her while slumped over the arm of the couch. 

Nara let out a dramatic gasp. “Nope nope nope. However much I like you Aaron, I will NOT stand by while you to insult _my precious_ like that.” Nara teetered over to hit her friend with a cushion. 

“No but seriously,” Aaron continued provoking her, dodging her attacks sluggishly, “anyone would look that good with the right amount of guyliner and perfect stage lighting.” The hip-hop dancer within him propelled him to add, “Plus, it’s not even proper dancing…” 

“Ooh, someone sounds jealous…” Dani sang, raising a manicured eyebrow at the way Aaron was now lazily grabbing Nara’s wrists, trying to stop her ongoing attacks with a giant grin. 

Nara, on the other hand, was absolutely affronted. “That is it. I’m going to go be with my babies, screw you rude people!” She declared at the top of her voice, stomping across the room to her laptop. 

“I need chocolate cookies…” Aaron pouted as he watched her retreating form. 

"You need to go home." Dani shot back. 

He showed no signs of having heard her as he rose from the couch chuckling and attempted to head in the direction of the kitchen. Dani frantically rushed after his stumbling form, yelling "Oh no you don’t!". This left Nara alone in the room with a laptop, a fanatic love for Exo and access to SM Global’s audition website. Henceforth…that wonderful masterpiece of an email to SM Entertainment was born. 

..... 

Yeah. 

So a few weeks later, when Dani invited her out again - this time on a much more meaningful volunteer trip to a small Cambodian village as part of their uni's mission program - Nara’s first response was, unsurprisingly, "Ughhh…but that means getting up from my couch?". More persuasion from the ever-eloquent Dani soon brought out her spontaneous side which chimed _'You need to start doing something meaningful with life. This could potentially be really fun! Q great opportunity to get out there and experience the world! Fist pump!'_

Then, her responsible side decided to make an appearance and nagged _'But you barely have the money. You really need to save up since you still haven't decided what you're going to do after uni. You've changed your degree twice and you even sent that stupid application to SM Ent, which is pretty good indicator of how much you_ don't _have your life together.'_

 _Well, yes, but this will look awesome on my resume,_ Nara shot back. She mentally stuck out her tongue. She’d never really gotten along all that well with her responsible side. 

Plus, even if it _was_ true she didn't know what to do with her diploma after graduation, she was at the age to let loose and enjoy life to the fullest wasn’t she? _Wasn’t she?!?!_

And that’s how Nara found herself drenched in sweat in the sweltering tropical weather, kicking around a ratty, makeshift soccer ball with a group of local children, and remarkably, having the time of her life. The entire experience had been unexpectedly humbling and indescribably rewarding. 

One miscalculated shuffle from Nara had the ball rolling over to where some male classmates were building a fence around the gardening patch. Aaron made to return it yelling 'incoming!' and kicked with such force that, while showing off his impressive soccer prowess, sent the ball soaring right over their heads and bouncing into the trees of the nearby jungle. 

“Well. Shit.” 

“You’re such a moron!” Nara laughed, “I’ll get it.” 

“I’ll come with!” He called back while jogging over. 

Nara instructed the children to wait for her before she weaved through trees in search of their lost ball with Aaron. After traipsing for a while into the dense flora, the soft sights and warm breeze slowly started to lose their comfort, and despite Aaron’s familiar voice chattering in the background, the further she walked the more she started to grow doubt. _The ball hadn’t gone this far had it?_ Searching a little further, Nara realized the trees and tropical plants had started to look exactly the same. 

Just as she planned to interrupt Aaron to voice her concerns, a flash of movement to her right caught her attention and she saw the retreating profiles of two people in the distance who had just turned the opposite direction. 

Nara felt completely and absolutely insane for thinking it, but in the flash of a second where she'd managed a glimpse of their facial features, she could _swear_ she had seen Kai and Chanyeol of Exo. 


	4. Zero_Two

**[Location: Cambodian jungle]**

Kai and Chanyeol. Of international K-pop fame. In the middle of a jungle. _Really Nara?_

Rationality told her that Exo were probably touring in some fully air-conditioned stadium right now. Instinct though, screamed at her that she saw them. Those hours spent procrastinating scrolling through Tumblr weren’t for nothing. Heck, she could recognize Exo members by the side profiles of their left eyebrows, let alone a glimpse at their entire face! 

So the real question was…how was this possible? The idea of doppelgangers crossed her mind as quickly as she dismissed it. One doppelganger was possible, but two together, at the exact same time and place? Definitely fishy. 

“Did you see those guys over there just then?” She asked Aaron, who had his head down and was diligently searching for their ball amidst the dense growth of the jungle floor. 

“Hm? What guys?” 

“Those…” She broke off scanning over where the two figures had been. Nothing could be seen. 

“Um…never mind?” 

Had they vanished into thin air, or was her Wi-Fi deprivation so severe, it was inducing hallucinations of K-pop stars now? 

Aaron scratched his head, “I have an awesome kick and all…but I’m really starting to doubt the ball came this far. Maybe we should turn around and search again?” Nara nodded all too enthusiastically. She tried to push down the unease bubbling deep in her stomach and trailed behind Aaron with a furrowed brow, turning back the way they came. 

The further they walked, the more unrest she felt. The air was becoming gradually cooler, a temperature unusual for this time of the year. The trees were becoming sparser, as though they had been cleared by some artificial force. And it was too late before Nara realized that, slowly, the animal calls had died out until there was nothing except a faint, unnatural humming lingering in the air. 

Aaron broke their silence with a low whistle. “Is it just me…or have we never been to this area before?” 

“It’s definitely not just you.” Nara whispered, now studying their surroundings left and right with panic. When a glint in the distance distracted her, Aaron followed her gaze and squinted his eyes. 

“Again, is it just me or is there something super shiny and totally out of place in the distance?” He asked as he curiously stepped in that direction. 

“Wait Aaron, don’t –” 

It happened so fast she barely had the time to scream. A giant, twisted, plant-like tendril shot towards Aaron and he couldn't react in time. The vine sliced across his shoulder, immediately spilling red onto his grey t-shirt. Aaron cried out more from surprise than pain. 

Along with it rose a giant creature from the leaf-covered earth that it had previously been camouflaged within. It looked like nothing she had ever seen before.

_What is going on._

She could barely make out a form, let alone features - just a huge mottled mass of twisted vines, leaves and thorns. The creature let out a vibrating screech, revealing a dark hole lined with rows and rows of sharp teeth. The sight unnerved her to her core. Some monster belonging to a botched sci-fi movie was materialising right in front of her face. _What the actual fuck? Is this real life?_

The creature’s limbs whirled as it hurtled towards them, moving like a giant, plant tarantula propelled by turbines. 

“Get down!” Nara screamed. They threw themselves to the ground, missed narrowly by the frenzied vines that soared overhead. The creature landed behind them and immediately swerved around to begin its attack anew. Nara pushed off the ground, dragged Aaron up by one arm and sprinted off with him in tow. 

There was no time to process the believability of all this. There was only fight or flight, and every nerve of her brain told her to _run_. The furious screeching behind her made her pump her arms even faster in desperation. Her lungs were beginning to seize – from the panic or from running the fastest she ever had in her 18 years of life, she didn’t know. She needed to breathe, she needed air, she – 

A _snap!_ followed by a terrified yell sounded behind her and Nara whipped around to see Aaron jerked backwards with immense force by a thick vine that was tangled around his middle, his mouth gaping in horror. 

“No! NO!” 

"Don't look back Nara! Don't -" Aaron's voice cut off in a choked gurgle. 

The creature aimed more vines at her and she threw herself out of the way, rolling into the muddy earth. They thumped on the ground to her left, twisting in effort to curl around her legs. Nara kicked and stomped as she scrambled to her feet, all the while screaming. More vines were flying in her direction even as the rest of the creature’s convulsing mass was still far behind. 

Aaron's limp form was somewhere, engulfed in that writhing mass, but Nara could only run, tears streaming down her face and dangerously blurring her vision.

She smacked face-first into a tall wired fence. It ran a boundary around a huge area of dirt ground absent of all forest life. A metallic, eggshell-smooth building stood at one side of the cleared plain, starkly out of place. It was something that belonged to the future, in sheer contrast to everything she had experienced and seen in the past few days. Beyond this fence, it was like another world.

 _This, this was the shiny thing we saw_. She dumbly realised. 

But with the nightmare behind her, there was no time to consider the consequences. Heaving with all her might, Nara pulled herself up using the scratchy metal, scaling the fence with fumbling hands and shaking legs, fuelled only by sheer terror and the unparalleled will to survive. She landed on the other side with a speed that would've impressed herself on a normal day and was halfway through sprinting across the courtyard, attempting to reach the glimmering, silver structure for refuge of some kind, _any_ kind, when a distinct click sounded where her foot had just lifted off the ground. 

That was never a good sign.

With a searing roar something exploded directly behind her, blasting her forward and rendering her world a burning red, then blinding white. 

Then pitch black.


	5. Zero_Three

**[Time: Unknown]**   
**[Location: Classified]  
**

Safe to say, Nara had no clue what she was doing, sitting in this overbearingly white room, with its overbearingly minimalist furniture, the only other occupant being an overbearingly serious–looking dude seated across from her. 

The way he held himself gave away no personality, his expression was unwavering and the uniform he wore (which she tried and failed to recognise) had been ironed to perfection, as stiff as his posture. Finally, after Nara’s eyes started burning from the immature staring-contest they seemed to have fallen into (or so she thought), he leaned forward and spoke in a controlled tone, “I realise there are things we may need to apologise for, and what I am about to tell you will not be easy to digest in the slightest.” 

_Well, this is off to a cheerful start._

“I will be brief as to avoid overwhelming you with information. Are you prepared?” 

_Prepared for what?_

Ok, but seriously, what the hell was she doing here again? The last she knew, she’d just an ordinary university student with a perfectly normal life: loving family, awesome friends, huge study workload, sucky boss at her part time job, the list goes on. She spent a third of her life binge-watching dramas, a third gaming and the other third stalking the ‘Exo’ tag on social media – an avid K-pop fan with an impressive understanding of the Asian culture despite growing up in Australia. Though, that didn’t mean she was a very good Asian. 

(Case in point one: she’d learnt how to play three musical instruments over the course of her life, but she was so half-assed at each of them she could still barely move past the sight-reading stage of musician-ing. Mega pet peeve: people who expected her to comply with requests like, “Oh, you’ve learnt piano for 7 years now? Play the acoustic version of 2NE1’s Missing You for me!” Like no, dude. No.   
Stereotypical Asian talent 1, Nara 0.

Case in point two: her parents once tried taking her to ballet classes when she was little, but somehow or rather she ended up persuading them to let her do Taekwondo instead. Which would’ve been a cool skill to have, except it only lasted until she went and got herself pathetically hospitalised from a kick to the face and her mother cancelled classes _immediately_.   
Stereotypical Asian talent 2, Nara 0.) 

Hmm, what else did she know about herself? She was also interested in cooking and food and travel and... 

_Wait…_

_Hold up a minute._

Hadn’t she traveled recently? Distinct memories of planting vegetable patches and painting wall murals flooded back to her mind. Was she correct in recalling that at some point in time, she had wandered into the jungle? And climbed some really tall fence and then… hm. 

Next thing she knew, she’d woken up in the most blindingly white room she had ever seen, her ears assaulted by a screaming metal ball. By the time a bunch of doctors rushed onto the scene, checked everything and everywhere and then hurried away scribbling on their clipboards and chattering excitedly to each other, the mysterious man who had poofed out from black smoke at the corner of her room had long gone. 

Or not so mysterious, since she was about _99.8% certain that person had been Exo’s very own Kai, Kim Jongin_. And she had definitely heard him mention Baekhyun’s name. 

Something niggled at the back of her mind that it was the second time she'd seen Kai recently. But why second? 

Following the nice visit from the doctors came lab-coated scientists rushing in and out, measuring this and prodding that. No one answered a single question of hers. She had barely gotten over the disgust of being treated like some captured lab rat when she was then gracefully manhandled onto a wheelchair and wheeled into this stupid room to face this man in this stupid uniform who made her feel stupid. 

What kind of accident had she gotten into after climbing the fence that she couldn’t seem to remember? Physically, she felt fine. Better than fine. But then again, she also had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe this was protocol for all Cambodian hospitals? Was she even still in Cambodia? Why did it feel like she was in trouble... oh God, what if she’d done something she didn’t remember to piss off some underground crime syndicate and now they were keeping her for organ harvesting and she was a million miles from home and the laws here probably didn’t cover – no that wasn’t right. Everything she’d seen since waking up was too clean, too polished, too hi-tech and futuristic. Unless this was some bad-guy HQ channeling Darth Vader and his Imperial Shuttle, which would mean she’d space-traveled or time-traveled or maybe even dimension-traveled and – 

Nara guessed her face wasn’t doing too well at hiding her inner turmoil because the man rose an eyebrow at her inquisitively. She quickly swallowed and willed her over-imaginative brain to shut up. 

“Miss Natasha Elliana Ryu. Korean name Ryu Nara. Chinese name Liu Na La. Preferred name Nara Ryu.” He addressed her, with no specific emphasis on any single word. He may as well have been reading a grocery list. 

_Well yes, good to know you know my names in their entirety. Not creeped out at all right now._

“Code GE(O)-P 072.” 

_Say what?_

“My name is Agent F. and I welcome you to G.R.O-W.L.” He said, in a tone that was anything but welcoming. “We are currently in the central headquarters of Sector K of our organisation; Global Response Operations – Warfare and Logistics, which means– ” 

“– it means our big boss _really_ wanted our initials to spell ‘growl’.” A vaguely familiar voice cut in. 

“Agent Jongin, glad you could join us. Your presence is, as always, a pleasure.” Agent F. dead-panned. 

“Hey, you’re the one who called for quick delivery.” Agent Jongin replied with a nonchalant shrug as he sauntered into the room and flicked a deck of folders onto the desk. 

And there he was, in all his glory. Agent Jongin. Who looked exactly like freaking _KIM JONGIN OF EXO WHAT IN THE WORLD OH MY GOD._

“Agent Jongin, if you could refrain from further interruptions, I’d like to finish explaining the situation to Miss Ryu here.” 

Jongin’s ~~deliciously gorgeous molten chocolate~~ eyes shifted to their attention to Nara and eye contact ensued. 

_Hyperventilating internally._

“Miss Ryu, do I still have your attention?” 

_No, random unimportant man, you do not._

At this point she was probably imitating a gaping goldfish. She managed to eke out, “You’re… you’re Exo's Kai!" 

“One and only. Actually... scratch that, that's technically not correct.” 

“…a-and is all of Exo…?” 

“The rest of the guys are currently chilling in our training lounge.” 

“Wow. Wow, how is this…?” 

“Well, long story short, we kinda work for the secret organisation this guy just mentioned, and K-pop idols are just clones of us put out there so our families and friends think we’re living large and don’t worry about us. It also minimises unnecessary contact with them. Heh.” To Nara’s shock, he then disappeared and materialised a second later beside her. Leaning in close he whispered, “Personally, I think it was more so they could milk money out of our poor little clones to fund their experiments. Win-win for them.” 

Nara‘s eyes very nearly popped out as she blinked back and forth at where Jongin had been a second earlier and where he was now. 

“Did I somehow get myself into a really elaborately set up prank cam episode?” she blurted. 

Jongin chuckled, then vanished and reappeared again in the corner of the room. “Does this look fake to you?” 

Nara’s head whipped around to face the voice, only to find he was now suddenly standing behind Agent F. If Agent F. was surprised by this, he did nothing to show it. On the contrary, his fingers were twitching like they trying extremely hard not to pinch between his eyes in frustration. Or strangle Jongin. The black, smoky tendrils from Jongin’s teleportation curled around Agent F. in a rather dramatic fashion, making him look like an ominous anime villain. 

_Experiments. Secret organisation. Man in black smoke! It really was Kai all along? Kai can TELEPORT._

“If what you’re saying is all true…don’t tell me…all of Exo actually have their powers?” 

“Yeah, they put that in their debut concept for kicks.” Jongin answered with a small wink. 

A rather long silence filled the room. Nara made a soft whale noise. 

“I’m sorry but, this is so _so fucking AWESOME!_ ” 

Agent F. finally snapped and sternly commanded Jongin to leave the room, but it was barely heard over the sound of Jongin's tinkling laughter. 

“Catch you later, Newbie!” he called as he disappeared from the room, leaving Nara’s eyes twinkling with excitement and heart practically thumping its way out of her chest. 

_It’s like every sci-fi movie/anime/Exo fanfic come true! Should I pinch myself? This definitely doesn’t feel all hazy and chaotic like my dreams usually are, but should I make sure?_

She surreptitiously pinched her thigh under the desk. 

_Shit ow that hurt! So it is real. Oh Lordy, superpowers exist and my beautiful Exo babies are actually secret agents…_

“That was certainly not the way I planned to clarify things, but I can confirm what Agent Jongin has informed you is, in fact, true.” 

Nara’s mind, which had drifted off into fangirl-ville, was snapped back into reality when she realised Agent F. had resumed speaking. 

“As I was saying, G.R.O-W.L. operates as a covert, global intelligence agency. We pride ourselves for our leading quality of elite agents and state of the art equipment.” Something about the way he spoke of the agents as though they were kitchen appliances irked Nara and she felt some of her euphoria dissipate. 

“You seem quite knowledgeable in the area of K-pop.” The way he somehow managed to say the word ‘K-pop’ like he’d made finger quotations and rolled his eyes, without physically doing so, irked her further. 

She replied, “I’m definitely a big fan of Exo.” 

“Well, as Agent Jongin mentioned, the group Exo you may be familiar with are not the original. The original 12-agent unit is one of our finest here at G.R.O-W.L. It is custom that after our new recruits officially register in our agency, we take the utmost caution to produce a duplicate clone to replace the agent. This clone is responsible for continuing to carry out their daily lives as a common citizen. The clone fosters the same memories, bar the knowledge of G.R.O-W.L., and adopts similar mannerisms and personalities as the original agent.” 

_Cloning humans is already a scientific success...Geezuz Christo_

“As you familiarise yourself with G.R.O-W.L.’s facilities you will discover that science and technology has evolved far further than you may have been led to believe. You must understand that the extent of development is classified information, and kept secret for good reason. Now, before I continue any further, I must be sure of one thing.” He leaned forward ever so slightly. “Tell me, what do you remember about yourself?” 

Nara bit back the thousands of questions threatening to escape her mouth, because the manner in which Agent F. was staring expectantly compelled her to answer his question first. She proceeded to retell the self-intro she had conveniently gone over in her head earlier. His expression became increasingly troubled (as troubled as deadpan could get) with every new sentence she spoke. She reached the part about wandering into a forest when he curtly held up his hand, signalling her to a stop. 

“Excuse me for a few moments.” Was all Agent F. said before sweeping the files off the desk and exiting the office through a door she hadn’t realised existed. 

Minutes passed uneventfully. Curiosity getting the better of her, Nara slowly removed herself from the wheelchair and crept up against the wall to inspect the hidden door. She practically felt her ears twitch as they picked up the faintest of sounds coming from the other side. Concentrating hard, she realised it was muffled voices, and the more she focused on hearing, the more words she began to distinguish. 

“…we assure you… everything in procedure…nothing…fault…” 

“…how does…explain…she... close to recalling…attack. If I hadn’t interrupted her in time…” 

Nara was completely unprepared for the disjointed conversation to trigger the rush. 

Memories slammed into her like an invisible tidal wave, knocking her backwards and tripping over her feet. Everything from the soccer ball to the explosion flew before her eyes, and then there was blood spurting, vines twisting and Aaron… Aaron Aaron _Aaron_. How could she have forgotten her best friend? 

_Oh God. How could I?_

Nara scrambled to leave the room that had suddenly become suffocating, choking on tears, heaving breaths but not really finding air. The pounding in her head made her vision go black so she frantically felt her way around the door she had come in, pushed out to the corridor and slid down against the nearest wall to crouch with her side pressed against it. One hand barely held herself steady as the other clutched at her chest, gasping to fill her lungs again. 

The scattering of people walking up and down the hallway recoiled from her looking physically pained, as though she wasn’t a hospital gown-clad ball of distress, but rather a demon breathing flames of death at them. 

This odd reaction made the hand that came to rest on her back a few moments later completely unexpected. It patted her soothingly and the touch grounded her again, dispelling the ringing in her ears with it. A strange but not unpleasant warmth slowly spread through her entire body and she hitched painful breaths as she sobbed distraughtly, finally breathing again. 

“It’s okay now, it’s okay.” A soft voice hushed her. 

Once Nara had settled down to quietly weeping, she turned to face the one person who’d dared to provide her comfort and was met with a dimpled smile and dark eyes laced with concern. 

More tears overflowed as she took in the face that was more than a friend on-screen yet such a stranger in person. 

“Lay…” she hiccuped. 

* * *

Once again, she was back in that stupid office with Agent F. on the opposite side of the desk. 

This time, her puffy, red eyes did not meet his. Hair that was sticky with tears framed her downcast face and she sat hunched in her seat. 

“I see you’ve recalled the attack and what happened to your associate.” Agent F. said. It sounded more like a statement than a question and since Nara had no energy to correct his word choice, she stayed silent. 

“Well, to continue on from earlier, our focuses at G.R.O-W.L. are global security, espionage, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism and alien contact.” He paused to let that last bit settle in. Nara finally slowly raised her head to look at him. 

“Unfortunately, you and your associate had the chance of encountering what we’re quite certain classified as an extra-terrestrial being in Cambodia that day.” 

Her brow furrowed. “His name’s Aaron. And he is…was my best friend.” 

Agent F. continued without any indication he’d heard her. “You then attempted to escape by passing into one of our restricted laboratory grounds and activated an electromagnetic land mine part of our experiments. We’re sorry to inform Aaron showed no signs of life by the time we found him. You, on the other hand, were recovered through numerous, laborious operations Ms. Ryu. With the amount of radioactive matter absorbed into your system after the explosion, paired with the extent of your injuries, we had no choice but to commence Genetic Experiment series Overdose on you. And the fact that you are sitting here now shows you have been a pleasing success.” 

Nara was now looking at him like he’d grown a second nose. 

“You may have already noticed your enhanced sight and hearing? Those are merely side effects, currently unsteady but with sufficient training they will be easy to maintain. Of course, there are plenty more tests we need to run– ”

“How long has it been since the accident?” 

“Seven and a half months.” 

Her throat closed up. “Then my parents…" 

“That’s something we took liberties with, and we’d like to apologise for doing so. In the circumstances, we had no choice but to retrieve your DNA and create a clone of you without your prior consent. It has already successfully integrated into your normal life and pacified your family and friends. It holds your personal memories up until your incident, but has no recollection of the alien attack.” 

Nara merely stared at him, so Agent F. continued, “Your contacts in Australia believe both you and your friend Aaron were involved in an unfortunate accident due to an undiscovered minefield left from the war. The fact that you moved out from home and visited your family sporadically allowed the situation to be much simpler to manage. If they determine your clone to be acting somewhat differently, the changes can be dismissed as symptoms of PTSD.” 

Agent F. pulled up a screen that had been embedded in his desk and a holographic image sprung up in front of her, setting a blue cast on their faces. Nara felt her eyes watering again as she recognised the faces of the people in the video, which judging from the angle looked to be some sort of security footage. There, her parents were. Completely at ease, they chatted amicably with someone who shared her exact features. It was like an out-of-body experience because that wasn’t her. And yet the family on screen looked so fitting and genuinely happy that… 

“Now, the main reason for our meeting today is to present you with two choices. As the experiment cannot be reversed, it is a matter of deciding what you wish to do with your newfound powers. Your first option is: after we discover and then teach you to harness your powers and are satisfied your level of control will not pose a threat to regular society, we send you back home and discreetly exchange you with the clone. You will sign a confidentiality agreement and continue on with life as though none of this ever happened.” 

The image on screen shifted to a different day and location, this time showing a noticeably upset Dani sitting with her clone, both of them clearly grieving over the loss of their other friend. 

“Your second option: you can accept the offer to join G.R.O-W.L. You still have immeasurable potential within you waiting to be unleashed. Provided you pass all the trials, we would like to recruit you as our first agent of the GE(O) series. This would give you an opportunity to utilise your powers for a greater cause, to prevent what you went through from happening to others and to make sure they,” he gestured to the video, “can live in a safer world.” 

Nara quietly watched the projection with glassy eyes. The footage had now skipped to a time where Dani and her clone, much more recovered from the loss, were walking through campus juggling iced coffees, textbooks and laptops in their arms and appearing as carefree as they possibly could. Why did that life feel so distant from her now? 

_How could I ever go back to that after seeing what I’ve seen?_

Her hand slowly reached up to stroke the display and she almost laughed at herself when it soundlessly passed through the hologram. The images of a normal life slipped through her fingers just as normality had already escaped her grasp. 

Agent F. regarded her silence for a few moments before he stood up and made to leave the room. “Someone will be here shortly to lead you to your room where you can rest and think over things.” 

“I’ll do it.” 

“Excuse me?” He faltered with his hand paused on the door and abruptly turned to face her, “I have given you time to consider your choices, there is no need to – ” 

“I’ll do it.” Nara repeated more firmly, turning her head and making direct eye contact. For the first time that day, some distinct sort of emotion flickered briefly across Agent F.’s eyes. 

“Very well, Nara Ryu. Very well.” 


	6. Zero_Four

**[Time: December 2014]**   
**[Location: Sector K Headquarters]**

“Left, right, left, left!” 

Nara followed each shouted command with action, pummelling mercilessly into her coach’s focus pads. 

“Slip, duck, left hook – too slow!” 

Tiffany may not have the most intimidating appearance, but damn did she make a tough Drill Instructor. Growl had paired Nara off with a female Instructor to begin with and she had been delighted to meet SNSD’s lead vocalist…until she realised that the real Tiffany never smiled, barely talked and packed a really, really mean punch. 

She was at the combat training stage of her initiation, where she trialled through different fighting styles in order to familiarise herself with each and find her forte. Fortunately, she picked up Taekwondo extremely quickly, maybe due to vague muscle memory from her one year experience as a kid, or maybe it was just the large movements of the martial arts form were perfectly suited to her long legs and flexibility. 

Boxing, on the other hand, was turning out to be quite the challenge. She couldn’t deny that it did wonders in honing core strength and building a natural instinct to protect her face. But for some reason the sweaty insides of the thick gloves just didn’t appeal to her like practising a spinning back kick did. 

Like a pop-up reminder had surfaced in her brain, it suddenly occurred to her that she didn't need to go to the shooting range for her weapons training session later. Today marked the day she could advance from close-range weaponry to actually harnessing her ‘powers' for attack. 

_Which room did they want me to go to again…?_

The little moment of distraction cost her painfully. Tiffany whacked her to the ground with a forceful hit that left Nara reeling from the impact. 

“Concentrate,” her drill instructor reprimanded, standing above her and removing her focus pads. “Break for 10.” 

Savouring the time she’d been granted, Nara clambered to the side of the room and fetched her water bottle, relishing the feel of ice cool water hitting her throat. 

Her daily schedule these days was absolutely insane. If she had been her old self, she doubted she’d even be alive at this point. And to think she’d previously wanted to join the K-pop industry as a trainee…she wouldn’t have lasted an afternoon. 

_On that thought, since K-pop artists are known to have lived through hell during their trainee days, did they design K-pop trainee life based on secret agent trainee life or something?_ Nara smirked morosely. _Sick bastards._

She clucked her tongue as her train of thought led her back to the start of her initiation, where she had been a reckless, ignorant little shit who didn’t think through what she was getting herself into. “I’ll join, on the condition that you tell me _everything_ that’s going on,” she had coolly (or so she thought) said to Agent F. that day. 

_Yeah thanks a lot, past me._

The first stage of her initiation, she had been subjected to cooperating with the scientists to figure out her enhancements. An overenthusiastic lab assistant showed her around the labyrinth that was Sector K Headquarters whilst babbling at 700 words-a-minute in what seemed to be English, only she failed to recognise half the words that left his mouth. From what little she could pick up, they were apparently situated in some hidden base constructed within a hollow near Mount Hallasan, South Korea. The sheer size and scale of things blew her mind. How everything fit was beyond her. 

Although the futuristic space felt surreal to be in, like she’d accidentally stepped into some high-budget sci-fi expo, the strangest sensation by far was the empty feeling on her nose bridge – she didn’t need to wear her glasses! Yet she could see everything in HQ in extensive detail! 

The assistant had then led her to the labs, explaining something about her genomes being a perfect fit with a planet core in a neighbouring solar system, about different fusions and augmentations and how her experiment had no concrete hypothesis to start with so the results were mystifying. All the holographic pictures and diagrams may as well have been children's finger paintings to her, but she did manage to catch onto two things in particular: Firstly, she now apparently had some naturally formed, self-generating metallic coating – named ‘Transcendium’ - all around her skeletal structure. _Very Marvel, many Wolverine, much fascinate._ Secondly and more importantly, there was apparently a high possibility she might be the first test subject to develop not one, but _two_ powers within her. _Lol, no pressure at all._

The days following that fun newbie tour, well those were the absolute worst in memory. There was something about being helplessly bound and tested on for days on end that that drove the human mind to the brink. G.R.O-W.L. scientists were dead set on trying to work out what made her tick, which meant even in her down time she was constantly monitored – vitals, metaphysic movement, biological structural change – Nara had never felt more suffocated in her life. Her break from it all came when she finally revealed the answer they were probing for. 

One day, while tied on that torturous lab chair, the pain, stress and frustration, compiled with homesickness and her general loss of faith in humanity at the time, finally converged and reached a breaking point. She missed her family, her friends, her dog, _her phone_. She missed when her biggest problem in life had been forgetting to buy a vanilla latte before a double lecture. She hated being stuck in there all day when what she really needed to be doing was hunting down those damn monsters out there to avenge Aaron. Like that, her emotions barrelled out of control and then the freakiest thing happened. The only way she could describe it was her physical body lay still while her mind pretty much spontaneously combusted. And in the one second she abruptly blacked out, the scientists working around her flung out in all directions, screaming in anguish and clutching their heads – like she was a grenade that had literally exploded on them. Their reactions shocked her enough to freeze her mental breakdown midway. Almost immediately, the yelling stopped and the scientists were wobbling back on their feet again, staring at her in astonishment. 

An Empath. That’s what they called her after that. She had gained ‘the Intuition’, they congratulated her. It was a remarkable scientific success after decades of theorizing on paper. She had the ability to interpret others’ emotions and force her own onto them. With practice, as a seasoned Empath she would be able to manipulate others’ feelings at will, empower her allies and disorient her enemies across vast distances, potentially even predict her opponent’s next move based on emotional fluctuation. She would be highly valuable to G.R.O-W.L. 

So, they finally worked out her first power, yet Nara felt...deflated. It wasn’t exactly the generic superpowers you saw in superhero movies, like laser-beam eyes or web shooting. Was it even cool? Did it feel epic? All she knew was, she wasn’t so sure what to feel about being able to read everyone’s emotions or facing the risk of over-sharing her own every time she failed to control her ‘power’. Thankfully it wasn’t mind reading at least. That would’ve been opening a whole different (and much more complicated and uncomfortable) can of worms. But still, she wanted to be able to kick alien butt, Hulk-smash them to smithereens, not _give them anxiety_. 

_I guess my main concern is that it’s going to take so long before I can even make it offensive?_

So while G.R.O-W.L. heralded her as an unprecedented scientific success, Nara felt crushingly useless. 

She had probably been unintentionally lashing out that day too, now that she thought about it. That day when she broke down outside the office after eavesdropping on Agent F.’s conversation and her memories came crashing back. It made sense now, the way people had been avoiding her like she disgusted them. The only person who had dared to come near was Lay, bless his beautiful unicorn soul, but he disappeared before she could thank him for his help. That was the last time she saw any Exo member. 

That had been over five months ago. 

For the second stage of her initiation, she had been tasked to reach peak physical condition. She mostly spent time alone in the gym – a sleek, silvery plethora of advanced exercise equipment and robotic monitors – training her general health, fitness, strength, agility and reflexes up to par with her enhanced self, in preparation for ability control. ‘A stronger body supported a stronger mind, and vice versa’ she’d been told. 

From the traumatizing weeks being evaluated in the labs to the sudden isolation with only machines as company, she had been thrown from one extreme to the other and forced to adapt. In some inexplicable way, the experience had simultaneously broken her and strengthened her, allowing her to realise endless potential of human endurance. 

She just needed to focus on getting better because the sooner she was strong enough, the sooner she was out of here and doing something real. So Nara counted the days away using the metallic announcement of “You have reached 20km, average speed 11 kph, average heart rate 124 bpm”, chirped to her by a Wall-e looking device. She slowed the treadmill and reached over to pat him on the head. At least he would never be an innocent victim of her emotional manipulation. 

When they deemed her ready, she moved out of the gym for the third stage: combat training. Melee sessions left her breathless and sporting a colourful array of bruises at the end of each day that somehow always healed completely by the end of the week. Assorted weaponry was nothing short of badass and nothing short of painful. Her body became marred with cuts varying lengths and depths. Although these too faded with time, the phantom pain of each as they sliced through her flesh were ingrained in memory. Weapons training might have been the most physically damaging, but damn was it stress-relieving. Whether it was handling butterfly knives or a long-range rifle, the exhilaration thrummed through her veins and she felt _alive_. 

Piece by piece, the old Nara slid back into place. The days flew by. Each session she got a little stronger. 

Now, she was ready to experience what she was truly made for. 

* * *

“P-072 reporting for ability training.” 

The fourth stage; learning to control her power. Whatever she’d expected, it wasn’t this. 

Fei of Miss A fame stood before her, in the most comfy-looking room she’d seen within headquarters yet. It was quaint and fresh, decorated with a lush baby blue carpet, mint green curtains and had a twinkling ceiling that Nara was suspicious would be glow-in-the-dark at night. Fei was dressed casually in white yoga gear and moved with a soft grace and athleticism that made Nara stare in awe. 

_Did I mistakenly sign up for spiritual awakening instead?_

“Hello 072. What seems to be puzzling you?” 

“Instructor Fei, sorry it’s just, why is this room so…?” 

“Nice?” Fei finished for her. Nara nodded mutely. _Normal. Belonging to the old world. The fake world._

“Because in here, we need every part of your spirit to feel at peace. Don’t underestimate it though; you may come across a few surprises along the way. Now please, do take a seat.” 

_Oh shit, I was right. We_ are _here to_ _enlighten_ _me._

Once they were crossed-legged and facing each other, Fei continued, “My name is Fei, Metaphysics Mentor of Sector K. I received this position due to my ability to see auras, not just the one visible to the naked eye, as you may have witnessed some agents possessing during ability use, but your own personal aura that envelops you in every step, every mood.” Her voice was soothing and tinkling. “Yours, currently, is at severe unrest. Let us hope I can help you with that.” Fei reached over and gently caressed the air around Nara’s head, something she neither felt nor understood. It would’ve been kind of creepy had she not been subjected to all sorts of… well all sorts of weird shit already. Also, this room was too relaxing. 

“Everything in this universe is fuelled by a Core. Think like the engine of a machine.” With a wave of her hand, Fei brought up a holographic diagram between them from a well-hidden projector. “It’s been called metaphysics, Ki or life force, but really it’s just an energy that revolves and transfers around to ensure the running of world as we know it." As she spoke, the delicate movements of her wrist and fingers brought the diagrams to life _._

"What we have successfully discovered is how to heighten the production, transmission and internal cycle of this energy in relation to an individual’s Core, followed by how to harness it in connection to the Core energy produced by an exoplanet compatible with yours. It changes the way your brain waves perceive and react to the molecules around you, the interaction granting you the ability to perform what was once regarded as impossible feats. That is, the powers you’ve seen. Anything’s possible, it just depends on your corresponding exoplanet. Of course, everything that happens comes from you and your willpower, and this type of energy manipulation takes effort and puts toll on you just like any physical strain would." 

Fei's voice was soft, steady and absolutely gripping. Dang, in the normal world, she would’ve been a badass project partner to do presentations with. 

“Now, let’s try controlling this inner Empath of yours, shall we?” 

* * *

**[Time: March 2015]  
** **[Location: Sector K Headquarters]**

After peeling off her white, skin-tight training uniform and throwing it aside, Nara stepped into the automatic pressure shower within her modest sized dorm, sighing when the hot water soothed her tense muscles. Her uniform was something akin to what she assumed Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wore in Marvel movies, the right balance of soft, breathable and durable. Apparently, it was also relatively fire and water-proof. Why they made it such a conspicuous and easily dirtied colour, she had no clue. 

As she palmed soapy suds over herself, she once again marvelled the physical differences she had begun to notice and learned to embrace. The enhancements had given her proportions for peak performance and seemed to have made her taller, now standing at a solid 173cm in height. With a denser bone structure that had been correctionally aligned, she stood up straighter. The intense training regimes continuously added to her visibly more toned frame and it didn’t take long before she was sporting the physique of an athlete, the grace of a model and the litheness of an assassin. Her eye colour was also visibly lighter, hitting a dark amber at some angles. 

She had worked hard no doubt, but God damn she never thought she could ever come this close to achieving her dream body one day. It was like she’d walked through some intense Asian photo filter app, but the changes had stayed. Really, the only things that left her with familiarisation of her old self were the tiny mole on the underside of her right jaw and the unruly tuft of baby hair framing her left temple. 

Nara sighed as one spray hit a particular sore spot. The shower was a glass dome with powerful jets coming from all directions, very much an awesome, hi-tech water massage and it was definitely the highlight of each day. Her stomach rumbled loud enough to be heard over the water. Yep, food was definitely next.

* * *

They were only a few days back and just recovered from their latest mission when his Arion beeped with the news. Luhan had been resting on his bed, but upon reading the message, he leapt up in a fury, knocking over his neat pile of Rubiks cubes in his haste. 

Luhan was a man of principle. He did not appreciate the knowledge that a rookie agent, who had barely gone through her initiation process, might be tagging along for a Level 7 mission. He made his position clear in the way he strode into Agent F.’s office. 

“Sir, the rogue agent case is not to be unde–” 

“This is not a matter up for discussion, Agent Lu.” Agent F. cut him off as though he had been waiting for this. “The final decision was made after careful deliberation. It would serve you well not to question orders.” 

Luhan could only grit back his complaints. “Yes sir.” 

“I’ve called in the others for a debrief, they should be here any minute.”

* * *

Nara picked out a steak sandwich and plopped onto the metal bench of the cafeteria, a place that was quietly unoccupied as usual. The busy, unpredictable schedules of personnel and agents at Growl made it difficult to have set meal times. Being despondently sick of cafeteria food, Nara flopped onto the table and sulked. Her fingers were itching to scroll through her dearly-missed Instagram feed that was sure to be packed with all the latest aesthetic foodporn. _I wonder what new brunch places have opened up?_ Sadly, in her training stage she wasn’t allowed to touch her own technology at all. They said it was to wean her off regular, 21st century, teenage girl activities. Social media was for the weak! Well, maybe not those words exactly. She had an inkling it was because they didn’t trust her to remain anonymous and refrain from contacting her loved ones (or posting a sneaky Snapchat of inside HQ).

“Steak sandwich not to your liking?” A male voice came from above her. Nara was too tired to lift her head and merely grumbled, “After being stuck here for 8 months going through everything the cafeteria has to offer, all of it has started to taste like wet cardboard. I need real food.” 

There was a chuckle and a plonk of metal on metal, which indicated the owner of the voice had decided to set his tray down and take a seat beside her. 

“Is that all that’s troubling you?” 

“Mmm,” Nara mumbled, “well, it’s the worst part of all this. The second worst would be deprivation from my beautiful Insta feed.” 

“There’s nothing you like about here?” The person pressed on, mirth in his tone. 

“My inner, repressed fangirl definitely enjoys the peeks of K-pop idols here and there,” Nara replied, deciding it was probably only polite to actually sit up and face the speaker since he’d apparently decided to join her for lunch. “Decked out in uniform and – ” her eyes bulged as she broke off. 

“So you like K-pop huh?” Baekhyun grinned and waggled the fingers of his right hand at her in greeting. He then picked up his own sandwich and chomped on it with fervour. 

Nara realised she'd stopped talking and was blatantly staring. 

“Um…yes, I was a huge fan before all this. Especially of Exo. But don’t worry I wasn’t the crazy stalker kind. I didn’t steal your underwear and frame it on a wall or anything! I lived too far for that anyhow. And I know all about the cloning and everything. So I totally wanted to play it cool if I ever got to meet you guys for real. This definitely went more smoothly in my head.” 

Baekhyun laughed around a particularly large bite of meat, “No need for the heart-eyes. Here we’re all equally agents of G.R.O-W.L. and our autographs are worthless.” He wiped his hand on a napkin and then held it out to her. “Nice to meet you, I’m Agent Byun, but please call me Baekhyun.” 

Nara carefully took his hand in hers, heart fluttering with nerves. It was like she was finally living the dream of handshaking with an Exo member, but also not the same, because these guys were more ‘Exo’ than ‘Exo’ ever would be? Did that make sense?! 

_Suppresses internal_ _squee-ing_ _._

She looked into his warm brown eyes with their peculiar, faint golden glow. The real Exo didn’t have flattering stage lighting, a backstage styling crew, suave dance moves and spine-tingly vocals. But these guys walked around with guns locked on their hips and real superpowers at their fingertips, trained diligently in military strategy and physical combat and saved the world without credit. If that wasn’t epic then she didn’t know what was – ah crap, Baekhyun was still staring expectantly and she was still holding his hand. 

“Nice to meet you Baekhyun, I’m P-072…” 

Baekhyun wrinkled his nose. “They haven’t given you an Agent title yet?” 

“Sadly still just a number to them.” 

“Well then I’m sure you had a name before all this?” 

“I do, my name’s Nara Ryu.” 

“Nice to meet you, Nara Ryu.” 

She flushed and decided she really liked this Baekhyun, just as much as she liked her King of Eyeliner Bacon who often took space of her Tumblr profile pic. 

“072.” 

Their pleasant conversation had been interrupted by a uniformed guard. “Ah, and Agent Byun, how convenient you’re here. Agent F. would like both of you to report to office immediately.” 

Nara hastily shoved a few bites of her otherwise untouched sandwich in her mouth before stepping out of her seat. 

“Both of us? You know it’s serious when they skip the Arion call and actually send someone to get you. I wonder what this is about.” Baekhyun spoke her mind. 

She could only reply with an equally puzzled shrug. They were led to another one of the many, practically identical offices, with its pale grey walls and polished floors, all tinged blue from the various artificial sources of light filling it. This one appeared to be slightly bigger though, with more furniture and equipment. She deduced this had to be Agent F.’s actual personal office. And then she turned her head and realised this was _definitely_ a much bigger office, because 11 other people were occupying the room alongside Agent F. 

Oh boy, to say this was one of the best but weirdest days of her life was the biggest understatement. She had just walked into a room with all of Exo lined up on one side, living and breathing right in front of her. Baekhyun automatically bee-lined to join the formation and that left Nara to fidget on her own at the entrance, unsure of why she was there. It took every ounce of self-control to suppress a high-pitched squeal. Agent F. seemed to be addressing some matters that only made sense to their ears and they were giving him their undivided attention, so she took this opportunity to remain invisible and observe. 

Being in such close proximity allowed her to survey the differences of this Exo to their idol counterparts. Once the star-struck haze was lifted from her eyes, they slowly adjusted to really seeing _them_ , and not just the Exo her brain was used to day-dreaming about. The most immediate difference was that they were all taller, much much taller. Even adorable D.O. stood at least a good 5cm above her own new height, which definitely didn’t match up with his online profile. Of course. Like her, their structures must have also been stretched and refined to reach peak human proficiency. The strength behind their tight uniforms was evident. Some of them had broader shoulders, others had the taut and tapered physique of an Olympic swimmer. Perhaps they trained differently to fulfil different role expectations? That would make a a lot of sense. 

She noted they all sported cropped, naturally dark brown or black hair framing their manlier faces. In contrast to K-pop Exo, they had glowing, tanned skins, their jaws were more squared and eyes more hardened. No make-up, no crazy hair dye, no theatrics - they were _breathtaking._

Immediately, the serial Youtube commenter inside her piped up ‘I like the one with the dark hair’. She mentally punched herself. 

Her eyes were skimming over Jongin in appreciation when he sent the quickest wink, it could almost pass as a blink. Except she knew it had been in her direction because the smallest upward quirk of his lips as he continued facing Agent F. confirmed that. He’d caught her pretty much checking each of them out in turn. 

How. 

Embarrassing. 

She quickly averted her gaze and felt her cheeks burning up. When she finally dared to lift her eyes again, it was Luhan she was immediately drawn to. Despite being the furthest away from her, he was staring at her with such intensity; she felt her breath catch in her throat. The self-defence drilled into her these last few months sprung to the forefront and she felt her hackles rise instinctively. What was with this sudden animosity? 


End file.
